Regional banks

Depending on the asset class, about 11%-18% of earnings per share came from tax savings. The looming question is how do they top themselves in 2019 when tax rates don’t change like they did this year.

The French company's stake in First Hawaiian will fall to about a third after the secondary offer is completed, and First Hawaiian will buy some of the shares.

The California company also benefited from higher interest rates and double-digit loan growth.

First Hawaiian, which is currently being spun off from BNP Paribas, has hired Ravi Mallela as chief financial officer.

John Turner, who became CEO of the Alabama company this month, has promoted John Owen to COO. Its Turner’s second executive appointment this week.

The San Antonio company also kept a lid on expenses in the second quarter, further boosting its bottom line.

The North Carolina regional will pay $30 million for the much-smaller Palmetto Heritage Bancshares.

The Ohio company said low unemployment is keeping business clients from expanding, while higher asking prices are forcing it to avoid bank acquisitions.

Prosperity Bancshares in Houston said that its earnings increased 19% from a year earlier as its efficiency ratio rose.

Vipin Gupta, who was chief information officer at Key Community Bank, will oversee strategy for information technology at Toyota Financial Services.

BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla., said that second-quarter earnings rose 36% as average loan and investment securities balances increased.

Florida created headaches for the Georgia company during the financial crisis. Increased discipline, and wholesale changes to banking, make the $3 billion purchase of FCB Financial less risky, CEO Kessel Stelling says.

In a 2015 enforcement action, the San Francisco Fed said it had identified problems with the Pasadena, Calif., bank’s BSA and anti-money-laundering compliance programs.

The $2.9 billion deal is the Georgia company's first traditional whole-bank acquisition since 2006. It is also the year's second-biggest bank acquisition.

Leroy Abrahams had previously served as president of the bank's North Central Alabama region.

Vend Lease, which is based in Baltimore, focuses on suppliers and vendors in the hospitality industry.

The bank also agreed to pay a $5 million fine to settle allegations over how it obtained consumers' consent.

The Birmingham, Ala., bank also saw lending decline in the quarter as strategic reductions in certain business lending lines offset gains in C&I and consumer.

The company has created a municipal group that will focus on nonpublic financing services at a time when loans to bond issuers are declining.

While the regulatory environment is more accommodating for big deals, many regionals still have their reasons for staying on the sidelines.